HOUSING chiefs in Mid Wales are facing a financial crisis because of the mounting costs of having to cope with a record rise in homeless people.

The situation is so bad in Ceredigion, the county council is being forced to take on an extra staff member to tackle the increasing workload.

The council was forced to find temporary accommodation for 82 people in September, almost treble the number of cases being handled at the start of the year.

Of the 82, just 21 were born in Ceredigion and 48 had established a connection in the area for around six months. A further 13 people had no local connection at all.

Council leader Dai Lloyd Evans said: "Our fig-ures show that about 16 young people already living in the county had claimed they had been turned out of their homes by their parents for each of the last three months.

"This is extremely worrying because it shows the social decay in this county."

The local authority has a statutory responsibility to find homes for homeless people who have had a connection with the county for six months.

Coun Evans said he was worried by the numbers who had moved into the county during that time.

"These homeless people are moving into Ceredigion month-after-month and all we can do is throw money at them," he said.

"This can't carry on or the structure of our community is going to be spoilt forever."

"If a council house becomes vacant that house will invariably go to a homeless person who has come into the area with social problems."

The authority's cabinet has asked for an urgent report from its housing department.

Assistant housing director Ann Rees added: "There aren't many spare houses in Ceredigion at the moment and this department has been under enormous pressure in coping with the workload. We will have to look at finding ways to deal with this problem in a homelessness strategy which we will put before the full council at the end of November."

A spokesman for housing charity Shelter Cymru said the figures needed to be examined to show any long term trend in homeless people moving into the county from other areas.

The appointment of an extra person to help tackle the problem will be continued well into next spring.